Young Miami grads near the Pulitzer limelight

04/17/1998

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OXFORD, Ohio -- Two 1997 Miami graduates were involved with the design and placement of the Web version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning report by a Dayton Daily News staff, "Unnecessary Danger: Military Medicine."

A Dayton Daily News reporting team yesterday was notified it won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for a project examining the military health care system.

Jennifer Lesick and Matt Cole, both journalism majors at Miami, began doing interactive work with the Dayton Daily News through a project with Linda Crider, assistant professor of English, and Dennis Walsh, associate professor of English. A preliminary project was a series on military doctors.

Both were hired after graduation by Cox Interactive Media, which places the newspaper's stories and other community information online, at a site called ActiveDayton.

The pair helped design the companion Web site with stories and photos of the series. Because it was a big project, it was linked to other Cox sites around the country, says Lesick.

"With such a special project, we worked extra on its design online and gave it good play on the site, so more people would be likely to read it," says Lesick.

"I'm very proud and excited for them," says Crider. "Their first year out of Miami they're able to bask in the reflective glory of a major honor."